I was a bit surprised that our overloaded little rental car was able to make it up the steep mountain road full of switch backs up to Farellones, the ski resort about an hour outside of Santiago, Chile. All I could think as we went around the 38 tight, steep switchbacks was “I really don’t want to change a flat tire right now”. After a few minutes of driving around looking for the accommodations that we booked, a friendly local called the owner of the place we were staying and we got better directions. It seams Google maps isn’t as accurate down in Chile as it is up here in Canada.
Imagine all of this, plus two huge suitcases full of parts, and 5 days worth of food for two hungry racers. That’s what we had to fit in this little car.
The owner of the place we were staying warmly greeted us and warned us of the elevation and said to take it easy because there were lots of stairs as we got started to move all our stuff into the ski cabin like house. At first, I kind of laughed in my head, I’d like to think of myself as relatively fit for a mountain biker and I have had experience being at altitude so I thought I’d be fine, but boy was I wrong. I was a bit worried as I got to the top of the first staircase and I was already breathing hard. I wasn’t sure how I would make it through 2 days of racing at even higher altitudes than the base of the ski resort where we were staying.
Views from our first evening in Farellones
After unpacking and getting settled, Anthony and I decided to ride around the resort. Farellones was split up into 3 different little villages. Farellones was the main ski resort village, where the race village and all the team tents and pits were, and where race started and finished on both days. A little higher up the road was El Colorado, where our accommodations were, and La Parva, which was just across from us in El Colorado. We rode over to La Parva to see what there was to see and to see how bad our lungs would feel after a little bit of pedalling. It was a lot cooler in Farellones than in Santiago, especially at night, which was nice, but a couple of the race stages finished lower down where it was still in the mid to high 30’s so we had to be prepared for some very warm climbs.
I couldn’t find a better map, so here is the race map that shows the layout of the whole village
We got to Farellones on the Monday before the race, so the next few days were spent getting the bikes ready, exploring a bit more, and doing some riding on the only trail we were allowed to ride to get one last chance to get used to the dust before practiced stared on Thursday. A few other racers from Canada, friends of ours, had a problem with their accommodations and there was an empty room at the place we were staying, so we ended up staying at the same place, which was very nice after not speaking to anybody who knew much english other than each other!
While riding, we met some other racers from the city who were shuttling the trail and offered us some shuttles. They were very nice and spoke a bit of English, and it was nice to ride with some locals who knew how to deal with the conditions!
After some final preparations to the bikes and a big cookout to get all the food ready, we planned out how the shuttles would work for practice. The other riders who were staying in the same house as us rented a truck which was very helpful because we could shuttle as much of practice as we could and not get worn out for the race. 
Luckily, it was the shoulder season, so other than the EWS, there wasn’t much going on in the village and it was pretty much empty. More space to work on bikes!
When they won’t let you on the airplane with a bike stand as your carry on, a strap and a staircase can work just as well.
